The *new* Monopoly

[Tom Riley]

Sooo... Hasbro has decided to give Monopoly a makeover. They decided to bring it "into the 21st century" I suppose.

New Monopoly Game

Hasbro has unveiled the design of the new 75th anniversary edition of their classic board game, Monopoly, set to hit stores in fall of 2010. "Monopoly: Revolution Edition" is slick and round instead of dull and square, with debit cards and an ATM instead of paper money and a banker, clear plastic representations of the classic tokens (bye-bye, little boot!), and clips of popular songs (like Rihanna’s "Umbrella," Daniel Powter’s "Bad Day," and Beyonce's "Crazy in Love") that play after certain actions.

As a special edition it looks really cool and I might think about getting it... but I sincerely hope they aren't completely replacing the regular version with this...

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Their verson of New Coke. Gimme the classic anyday.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My sister and I made a Star Trek monopoly. We play that one.

*smug* And it's far better than the actual Star Trek monopoly they made. *smug*

 

[SiorX]

I concur with this part of the article:

So far, the Internet echo chamber's biggest criticism focuses on the new version's tight security. It seems that when it comes to Monopoly, half the fun comes from cheating by stealing from the till when nobody's looking, a loophole the new version closes with its fancy electronic banking.

I'm amused by the music clips bit though. Do you think in years to come Rihanna's 'Umbrella' will be known as "that Monopoly song"?

 

[Marc]

I concur with this part of the article:

So far, the Internet echo chamber's biggest criticism focuses on the new version's tight security. It seems that when it comes to Monopoly, half the fun comes from cheating by stealing from the till when nobody's looking, a loophole the new version closes with its fancy electronic banking.

I'm amused by the music clips bit though. Do you think in years to come Rihanna's 'Umbrella' will be known as "that Monopoly song"?

no but I think many will consider a stupid decision. It's pointless, adds nothing to the game, we end up paying because there will be royalties for every one sold.

Hopefull you'll be able to turn it off (and the other songs too).

 

[Mr. B]

Meh. If it ain't broke...

 

[RoJoHen]

If they want to make it really realistic, they should have cash, debit, AND credit cards. And you need to make a credit card payment everytime you pass GO.

 

[auntiehill]

clips of popular songs (like Rihanna’s "Umbrella," Daniel Powter’s "Bad Day," and Beyonce's "Crazy in Love") that play after certain actions.

That sounds annoying as hell. No thank you.

 

[Canadave]

Meh. If it ain't broke...

Well, it kind of is. Games like Monopoly have started to lose market share in recent years as German-style board games become more mainstream. The problem with this is that it doesn't seem to really address any of the complaints people usually level against Monopoly (it can be long and slow, too much relies on the roll of the dice) while eliminating some of the things people enjoy about the game (the aforementioned security issues).

 

[RoJoHen]

German-style board games?

 

[Canadave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-style_board_game

 

[RoJoHen]

Hmm. I really haven't heard of any such games, certainly not enough to say they're entering the mainstream.

 

[Canadave]

I think Settlers of Catan is, especially, considering I see it on sale in places like Chapters (basically the Canadian Barnes & Noble), now. It's certainly not as pervasive as Monopoly, but Hasbro has been acting like they're looking over their shoulder in recent years with all the revisions and changes they're constantly making to the basic game.

EDIT: Interesting and relevant article from Wired on Settlers of Catan that compares it to Monopoly a lot

 

[Marc]

I think Settlers of Catan is, especially, considering I see it on sale in places like Chapters (basically the Canadian Barnes & Noble), now. It's certainly not as pervasive as Monopoly, but Hasbro has been acting like they're looking over their shoulder in recent years with all the revisions and changes they're constantly making to the basic game.

EDIT: Interesting and relevant article from Wired on Settlers of Catan that compares it to Monopoly a lot

And lets face it - Monopoly is not a cheap game to buy.


Though I did have a bit of a smirk. In Adelaide they did a localised monopoly version as charity fund raiser with the ads saying it was limited edition and get in quick cos they'll soon be gone.

Problem was they were about $AU80 each and didn't exactly fly of the shelves despite all the ads and tv promotions (ads disguised as news stories etc etc).

 

[RoJoHen]

I think Settlers of Catan is, especially, considering I see it on sale in places like Chapters (basically the Canadian Barnes & Noble), now. It's certainly not as pervasive as Monopoly, but Hasbro has been acting like they're looking over their shoulder in recent years with all the revisions and changes they're constantly making to the basic game.

EDIT: Interesting and relevant article from Wired on Settlers of Catan that compares it to Monopoly a lot

Maybe it's a Canada thing. I haven't even heard of it before.

 

[Tom Riley]

Same here, I've never heard of Settlers Of Catan, nor do I know of any other popular German-Style board games in the US... The only games I've noticed getting somewhat bigger recently that aren't board games like Monopoly and such are games like Fluxx and other card games... And well, everyone knows Uno.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, the games I see becoming more popular are things like "Scene It" and "Cranium," games that make you use knowledge of pop culture.

 

[Tom Riley]

Scene It, omg they have like 828357923598 versions of it...

 

[RoJoHen]

I got annoyed when I saw the Harry Potter Scene It. I mean, they could at least wait for ALL the movies to come out!

 

[Tom Riley]

What about Twilight Scene It? They made that when there was only ONE movie...